This film uses a technique I call mosaic which creates images from several shots of different parts of the same thing, in this case faces.

The text is a poem that I wrote inspired by the Hindu phrase neti neti, meaning “not this, not this.” Apparently, Indian mystics would go around pointing at things saying neti neti, meaning “the answer is not there, the answer to the meaning of life is not there.” I would say it’s about how meaning or the Divine must come from totality, not individual things. Inclusiveness, would be one way to say it. Never-the-less, I have always been interested in the “thingness” of things and this was away to point to a thing’s thingness, and at the same time, say it means nothing, except in its wonderful, textured, exhilarating, mundane, stupid, or rich and beautiful meaninglessness.

With funding by the Regional Arts and Culture Council, the film was installed at Dan Ackerman’s Stage 13 in Portland on three screens arranged in a U shape. What you will see is a composite of all three screens.

Music is by Bobby Jones.  Here are some of the series of posters for the event:

Not This: